Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate in general to orthodontic elastic bands, and more particularly to a kind of orthodontic elastic bands which incorporate a means of verifying whether an orthodontic patient has been using the elastic bands regularly, as prescribed.
It is a challenge shared by orthodontic professionals and parents of children and young adults that are undergoing orthodontic treatment to ensure that the patients adhere to their orthodontic and dental regimen with rigor. A large proportion of individuals undergoing orthodontic treatment require the use orthodontic elastic bands at some point during their treatment. The elastic bands are used to apply force between orthodontic appliances and would be most commonly identified as small rubber bands. The elastic bands are typically awkward to install and remove and are often uncomfortable to wear. Consequently, orthodontic patients tend to be at risk of lapsing in the use of their elastic bands. Such a lapse, is typically associated with a prolongation of the total treatment interval and can therefore be very costly. The challenge is a difficult one due the discipline required of the typically younger, orthodontic patients may not be sufficient to ensure that they remove and reinstall their elastic bands before and after each meal, or as required. Furthermore, the orthodontic patients may not be paying for their treatments directly and are therefore insulated from any direct financial incentive for complying to their orthodontic treatment program with rigor.
Conventional attempts to encourage the rigorous use of orthodontic elastic bands have focused on making the elastic bands in stylish colors, or on providing them with flavor (Fasnacht, U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,225). For example, orthodontic elastic bands (which includes other removable devices which are intended to exert forces relative to orthodontic appliances) may be flavored and/or colored. Davanathan teaches a method of manufacturing elastic bands such that they have a hydrophyllic quality and have a low coefficient of friction when worn, making them more comfortable (Davanathan, U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,317). Orthodontic elastic bands may be provided in varying sizes and designs.
Although the conventional approaches noted above may tend to make the use of orthodontic elastic bands more appealing to the user, they are not without shortcomings. Namely, a need still remains to verify that an orthodontic patient has been using their elastic bands as required. Such a verification system could allow parents to avoid unnecessary orthodontic treatments and costs for those orthodontic patients in their charge through a program of verification of compliance, or could be advantageously used as a basis for establishing a positive feedback reward system. Through a program which encouraged the use of a system of verification of use of orthodontic elastic bands by orthodontic treatment providers, underwriters of orthodontic care could realize significant cost savings, limiting the effects of poor orthodontic elastic band compliance among their patients.